Your Friday WAC basketball links

Sam Wasson has updated his NMSU seeding scenarios.

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Jason Groves takes another look at the New Mexico State - Utah State game.

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Shawn Harrison writes that Tyler Newbold really, really likes the the lighting, the background, even the fans in the Pan-Am Center in Las Cruces.

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Tony Jones says Pooh Williams will be on the court versus Louisiana Tech come Saturday.

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After landing in San Jose, the eating place of choice for Hawaii was ... Dayton Morinaga has Bill Amis fill us in. The burning question is what did Scott Fisher order? He the director of basketball operations and, as Dayton noted earlier, a vegetarian.

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Joe Santoro's first two items in his latest column and Wolf Pack basketball related.

Thursday's WAC news and links

Sam Wasson has a game report from last night's New Mexico State loss to SJSU.

Here is our one-game snapshot take of the pairing last night:

Does Wil Carter desire to be an astronaut? Because he sure has some liftoff as Tyrone Watson experienced ... the white SJSU uniforms are apparently mothballed ... Justin Graham has a new BFF (check the urban dictionary if you are over 30) in Matt Ballard with those passes that led to a dunk and then a layup ... Troy Gillenwater: if he's not hitting, what does he offer? TG's run at WAC MVP ended last night with that last shot ... Tyrone Watson's dribble-drive proficiency surprised us ... New Mexico State's freshman center Tshilidzi Nephawe has the most effortless free throw shooting technique we've witnessed in a very long time for a college big ... The absence of Jahmar Young and Jonathan Gibson is apparent for the Aggies -- an outside sniper/individual creator is missing ... we think television agrees with AO, that is besides "Entourage" ... And finally, to ESPN: a shot of a cable car? Really?

The Aggie defeat makes it official -- Utah State wins another WAC basketball championship.

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Dayton Morinaga previews the UH - Louisiana Tech matchup tonight in the islands, complete with print, video and photos. All games probably qualify as such now but the Bulldogs especially cannot afford any more losses or it's no Vegas for them.

Beian McInnis covers Hiram (No Drama) Thompson. Brian also offers a Court Sense post on UH scheduling and names a name in recruiting.

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Gotta like Nevada's chances for the two spot in WAC tourney seeding, as Chris Murray details. Here is Chris previewing the Wolf Pack - Idaho contest tonight in Reno. For the trifecta, Chris offers a notes column.

Joe Santoro also checks in with his look at tonight plus the remainder of the season.

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Nick Jezierny profiles a Boise State walk-on who is producing more than anyone expected.

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Shawn Harrison writes about Pooh Williams and shooting, especially at the line.

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So, it's UH hosting LT tonight, Nevada welcoming Idaho and Boise State in Fresno.

Portnoy and Jones check in

Jeff Portnoy plays Carnak the Magnificent in envisioning how the remainder of the WAC regular season plays out.

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Tony Jones has praise for James Walker's latest effort and also advises readers to focus on Newbold and Williams challenging McConnell and Delladova (and vice versa) come BracketBustin' time.

Friday's WAC news and notes

It's Adrian Oliver's week as the San Francisco Chronicle has also posted an article on the SJSU senior.

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Gotta love this recruiting reference line from Jason R. Chatraw and his Fanhouse piece on Leon Rice: "...on a fast track for rock star status with his preferred airline carrier..." -- with Rice saying it's going to take an all-out community effort for Bronco hoops to reach the status he believes is achievable.

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Pi’i Minns is sitting out this season at Hawaii but still receives a print and video feature from Dayton Morinaga.

Brian McInnis writes it's Hawaii Pacific up next for UH hoops on Saturday.

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AW Prince has a post up (sub required) on the status of Wolf Pack basketball. 

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Per Shawn Harrison, the alliterative senior duo of Williams and Wesley are credited with leading the Aggie way over Long Beach State.

It's BrackBuster Saturday

Rumor has it that there are some games scheduled today, a few of the matchups at odd times.

February 20 (Saturday)

Louisiana Tech at Northeastern, 1:00 p.m. ET Television: ESPN2

Nevada at Missouri State, 2:00 p.m. CT Television: ESPN2

Long Beach State at Idaho, 5:30 p.m. PT

San Jose State at Montana State, 7:00 p.m. MT

UC Davis at Boise State, 7:00 p.m. MT

New Mexico State at Pacific, 7:00 p.m. PT Television: ESPNU

UC Santa Barbara at Fresno State, 7:30 p.m. PT

Wichita State at Utah State, 10:00 p.m. MT Television: ESPN2

Cal Poly at Hawai‘i, 8:30 p.m. HT

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Chris Murray dons the headdress of Karnak the Magnificent and offers predictions of each BB game here. We would have a great picture to offer you if we only knew how to use Photoshop.

By the way, the WAC goes 7-2.

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Nicj Jezierny provides a feature on senior Anthony Thomas here. How has five years flown by so fast?

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Pooh Williams and defense never were formally introduced during high school. Jared Eborn has the details on PW 2.0 here.

Idaho runs the table against Seattle

Travis Mason-Bushman has the game report, including a post-game video interview with Kashif Watson.

Vandals hold Garcia in check, complete Seattle sweep
Travis Mason'Bushman
Vandal Nation
February 18, 2010

Seattle RedHawks center Charles Garcia has been called one of the best players on the West Coast, with a dominating inside game based on unstoppable post moves. But tonight it was the homestanding Idaho Vandals who owned the paint — Garcia notwithstanding...

Go here for the remainder.

Josh Wright also covered the game here.

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Per Dayton Morinaga, Coach Bob Nash has called up the reserves here.

Brian McInnis features the concept that free doesn't always mean 'good' here.

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Jared Eborn blogs about how USU's final RPI number will be critical here.

Shawn Harrison offers a feature on the unsung-est -- that noise you just heard was our 7th grade English teacher erupting like Mount St. Helens -- of the Aggies here.

Tony Jones plays drum major for Pooh Williams here. Anyone else have a candidate for WAC Defensive Player of the Year? No?

Additional WAC basketball links, news and notes

Shawn Harrison shines a light on one of the unsung USU Aggies:

Difference maker
Shawn Harrison
Herald-Journal
January 20, 2010

It was not looking good for the Aggies a week ago at Nevada.

The Wolf Pack men’s basketball team had scored nine straight points to build a 62-52 lead. Utah State had come up empty on three offensive possessions, hadn’t scored in two-and-a-half minutes and the Nevada fans were howling.

The Aggies needed a field goal.

Enter Pooh Williams. The junior dialed up a 3-pointer to slow the Wolf Pack. The Aggies would end up rallying for a 79-72 overtime win...

Go here for the remainder.

Plus, he offers a slew of notes and quotes in a separate article here.

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With a top of the fedora to Sam Wasson/BleedCrimson.net for first finding this, Scott Ficklin tells us why Jared Quayle deserved the WAC Player of the Week award over Jahmar Young, his closest competition.

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Dayton Morinaga features Hiram Thompson, Brandon Adams and others here in his Hawaii basketball report. Brian McInnis salutes Adams in a feature here.

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Ah, the vagaries of recruiting. Portland, Portland State, Fresno State and Nevada all received mentions as places of interest once Andy Poling left Gonzaga. So where does he end up? Seattle Pacific.

Here's Jim Meehan with some quotes from Poling on his choice:

"...I just think it should be a really good fit,” Poling said in a telephone interview from his home in Portland. “I really liked the coaching staff, they’re all really good guys and the team is really competitive, top 15 (in NCAA Division II) right now. I lived in Seattle until I was 9 or 10. It’s a great city and it’s a little closer to home. My family can come watch me and it’s a smaller school, and I really liked that about Gonzaga.”

Poling said he’ll enroll for spring quarter in March. He’ll have three seasons of eligibility..."

Portland State, Portland and Nevada were mentioned by Poling in a previous article in the Oregonian.

New Mexico State does it

Well, the critics got confounded as New Mexico State traveled to the west Texas town of El Paso and took down the Miners. We tried and tried to insert Marty Robbins into this opening line but ultimately had to settle for less than a line from the song. Our bad.

We lead off with Sam Wasson/BleedCrimson.net.

Jason Groves/Las Cruces Sun-News offers his game report.

Brian Green gets the point in the latest article from Shawn Harrison/Herald Journal.

Tony Jones/Aggieville says Pooh Williams has moved into All-WAC consideration.

A few Turkey (or Tofurkey) Day links

Here's a few links to tide you over:

Williams did not disappoint
Shawn Harrison
Herald Journal
November 26, 2009

When Pooh Williams was introduced as a starter Tuesday night, the home fans greeted him with a hearty applause.

The Utah State junior didn’t disappoint in his first start of the young season. No. 5 played tough defense and even got involved on the offensive end against Idaho State at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

“It was more comfortable being out there, having the fans behind your back and having more practices in,” Williams said. “It was hard to get in a rhythm last time. Today just felt a lot better...”

Go here for the remainder.

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One backcourt newcomer is helping Bob Nash and the RBs:

Junior guard not one to lay low
Dayton Morinaga
Honolulu Advertiser
November 26, 2009

Jeremy Lay is still trying to figure out the lay of the land in NCAA Division I basketball.

For now, he is the sparkplug — on and off the court — for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.

"I just like to have fun, man," the 6-foot junior point guard said. "I'm the one always talking to my teammates, trying to fire them up, or joking with them if we need a laugh. But once the whistle blows and the game starts, I'm serious. I want to do what ever I can to help this team win..."

Go here for the remainder plus a note about the status of Dwain Williams.

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Brian McInnis has more on newcomer Dwain Williams and it's a bit of a mystery. Let's hope all is well or turns out well -- Williams has a 'checkered' history and this will be his last D-1 stop if the issue or issues turn out to be more than illness:

Williams likely out against New Mexico
Brian McInnis
Honolulu Star Bulletin
November 26, 2009

There is likely one less thing for which the Hawaii men's basketball team to be thankful.

UH guard Dwain Williams missed a third straight team practice yesterday and the Rainbow Warriors (2-2) are proceeding as though the Providence transfer won't be available in tomorrow's game against unbeaten New Mexico (5-0) at 8 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The 6-foot Williams -- the Rainbows' second-leading scorer through four games with a 13.3 average -- has been dealing with an illness, the team has maintained. But coach Bob Nash hinted that it might be something more after yesterday's practice...

Go here for the remainder.

Jared Eborn on the medical state of the Aggies

Jaredn Eborn has a post with a bit of information on the health (or lack thereof) status of a pair of Aggies:

"...[Pooh] Williams had surgery on what Morrill called a "pre-stress fracture" in his foot and had a screw placed and is out 4 to 6 weeks. [Jasckson] Myaer broke his cheekbone about two weeks ago and will be out of practice for a few weeks as well..."

Go here for Ebron's complete article.